there is a documentary in youtube about this device 2014-12-05 5:48 GMT+01:00 'Chris de Morsella' via Everything List < [email protected]>:
> For those who get into this kind of stuff. > > > > http://www.gizmag.com/antikythera-mechanism-date/35016/ > World's oldest computer may be older than previously thought > > By David Szondy <http://www.gizmag.com/author/david-szondy/> > > *December 4, 2014* > > 3 Comments > <http://www.gizmag.com/antikythera-mechanism-date/35016/antikythera-mechanism-date#comments> > > [image: The Antikythera Mechanism is the world's oldest computer (Photo: > Giovanni Dall Orto)] > <http://www.gizmag.com/antikythera-mechanism-date/35016/pictures> > > The Antikythera Mechanism is the world's oldest computer (Photo: Giovanni > Dall Orto) > > Since its discovery over a century ago, the Antikythera Mechanism has had > scholars scratching their heads over how the Greeks managed to build a > mechanical computer a hundred years before the birth of Christ and > thousands of years before anything similar. But now things have become even > stranger as researchers claim that it's over a hundred years older than > previously believed and may have been built by a famous hand. > > The Antikythera Mechanism was discovered in 1901 by sponge divers off the > Greek island of Antikythera. At first, not much was made of it, but after > the coral-encrusted, corroded mass of bronze gears was later studied using > x-rays, gamma rays, and neutrons, and then reconstructed, it turned out to > be something astonishing. > > The device at first was thought to be some sort of surprisingly early > clock, but then it turned out to be the oldest computer known. In fact it > was an analog astronomical computer based on the principle of the > differential calculator that uses gear trains as a way of performing > complex calculations. On further study, the device proved capable of > calculating, among other things, the position of the planets, sidereal > time <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidereal_time>, and eclipses. > > And all of this by using technology that was never realized to exist in > the ancient world and after it vanished, didn't reappear until the 14th > century. Even today the device sparks interest as the design is adapted to > not only museum exhibits, but also watches > <http://www.gizmag.com/hublot-antikythera-mechanism-first-computer-watch/20517/> > . > > First reported in the *New York Times*, the new date for the Antikythera > Mechanism is the result of work by James Evans, professor of physics at > University of Puget Sound, and Christián Carman, history of science > professor at University of Quilmes, Argentina. > > The new date is based on a reconstruction of the device made by John > Steele of Brown University in 2008. This involved matching the calculations > against Babylonian eclipse records and applying an analysis that took into > account lunar and solar anomalies, solar eclipses, and lunar and solar > eclipses cycles that might have been missing and other inaccuracies – not > the least of which might have been caused by the fact that much of the > device was never salvaged. > > By a process of elimination, Evans and Carman eliminated hundreds of > eclipse patterns until a match was found that placed the earliest eclipse > on the device matching the year 205 BC. According to the researchers, such > a date not only places the manufacturing date perhaps a hundred years > earlier than the previous date of about 100 BC, but also indicates that the > mathematics used to design the device were derived from Babylonian methods > rather than Greek trigonometry, which did not exist at that time. > > The researchers also put forward another tantalizing possibility opened by > the new date. According to Cicero, there was a story that a device much > like the one found at Antikythera was made by Archimedes and captured by > the Roman general Marcellus after the sack of Syracuse and the death of > Archimedes in 212 BC. It is remotely possible that it and the Antikythera > Mechanism may be one and the same. The researchers emphasize that the > correlation is conjectural, but it does suggest that the age of the device > is not only now known, but that a famous name can be given to its maker. > > The results were published in the *Archive for History of Exact Science* > <http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00407-014-0145-5>. > > Source: University of Puget Sound > <http://www.pugetsound.edu/news-and-events/campus-news/details/1345/> > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Alberto. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. 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